Critical illness is hypothesized to associate with loss of "health-promoting" commensal microbes and overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria (dysbiosis). This dysbiosis is believed to increase susceptibility to nosocomial infections, sepsis, and organ failure. A trial with prospective monitoring of the intensive care unit (ICU) patient microbiome using culture-independent techniques to confirm and characterize this dysbiosis is thus urgently needed. Characterizing ICU patient microbiome changes may provide first steps toward the development of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions using microbiome signatures...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Loss of 'health-promoting' microbes and overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria (dysbiosis) in ICU is believed to contribute to nosocomial infections, sepsis, and organ failure (multiple organ dysfunction syndrome). This review discusses new understanding of ICU dysbiosis, new data for probiotics and fecal transplantation in ICU, and new data characterizing the ICU microbiome. RECENT FINDINGS: ICU dysbiosis results from many factors, including ubiquitous antibiotic use and overuse...

BACKGROUND: Bacterial infection following gastrointestinal surgery remains a common morbidity. The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of the perioperative use of probiotics and synbiotics on postoperative infections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library to identify pertinent randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The primary outcome was postoperative infection rate. The secondary outcomes were length of hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) stay, length of antibiotic therapy, and mortality...

PURPOSE: The primary objective of this survey was to describe pharmacists' attitudes regarding probiotic use in the intensive care unit (ICU); secondary objectives were to evaluate pharmacists' knowledge and use of probiotics for critically ill patients. METHODS: The survey instrument was rigorously designed and pretested, then distributed in both English and French to Canadian ICU pharmacists. The online survey was open for 5 weeks, and 3 follow-up emails were sent to maximize response rates...

This was a randomized controlled pilot study of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG versus standard of care to prevent gastrointestinal multidrug-resistant organism colonization in intensive care unit patients. Among 70 subjects, there were no significant differences in acquisition or loss of any multidrug-resistant organisms (P>.05) and no probiotic-associated adverse events.

The efficacy of infection control interventions against Acinetobacter baumannii remains unclear, despite such information being critical for effective prevention of the transmission of this pathogen. Mathematical modeling offers an alternative to clinical trials, which may be prohibitively expensive, unfeasible or unethical, in predicting the impact of interventions. Furthermore, it allows the ability to ask key "what if" questions to evaluate which interventions have the most impact. We constructed a transmission dynamic model to quantify the effects of interventions on reducing A...

Survival of extremely preterm and critically ill neonates has improved significantly over the last few decades following advances in neonatal intensive care. These include antenatal glucocorticoids, surfactant, continuous positive airway pressure support, advanced gentle modes of ventilation and inhaled nitric oxide. Probiotic supplementation is a recent significant milestone in the history of neonatal intensive care. Very few, if any, interventions match the ability of probiotics to significantly reduce the risk of death and definite necrotising enterocolitis while facilitating enteral feeds in high-risk preterm neonates...

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Among patients who have received liver transplants, infections increase morbidity and mortality and prolong hospital stays. Administration of antibiotics and surgical trauma create intestinal barrier dysfunction and microbial imbalances that allow enteric bacteria to translocate to the blood. Probiotics are believed to prevent bacterial translocation by stabilizing the intestinal barrier and stimulating proliferation of the intestinal epithelium, mucus secretion, and motility...

RATIONALE: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a common healthcare-associated infection with high associated cost and poor patient outcomes. Many strategies for VAP reduction have been evaluated. However, the combination of strategies with the optimal cost-benefit ratio remains unknown. OBJECTIVES: To determine the preferred VAP prevention strategy, both from the hospital and societal perspectives. METHODS: A cost-benefit decision model with a Markov model was constructed...

PURPOSE: Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the most common nosocomial infections in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). It is associated with increased mortality and prolonged hospital stay. Several preventive strategies have been introduced to reduce VAP. One novel intervention is prophylactic administration of probiotics. Studies on the effect of probiotics on VAP in pediatric populations are lacking. METHODS: This was an open-label randomized controlled trial...

OBJECTIVE: To test the efficacy of probiotic and prebiotic, alone or combined (synbiotic), on the prevention of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective, randomized, controlled trial was conducted at 5 neonatal intensive care units in Turkey. VLBW infants (n = 400) were assigned to a control group and 3 study groups that were given probiotic (Bifidobacterium lactis), prebiotic (inulin), or synbiotic (Bifidobacterium lactis plus inulin) added to breastmilk or formula for a maximum of 8 weeks before discharge or death...

Ventilator-associated pneumonia is the commonest, yet mostly preventable, infection in mechanically ventilated patients. Successful control of ventilator-associated pneumonia can save hospitalisation cost, and is possible by using a multidisciplinary clinical and administrative approach. The ventilator-associated pneumonia rate should be expressed as the number of ventilator-associated pneumonia days per 1000 ventilator days to take into account the device-utilisation duration for meaningful comparison. Various strategies address the issue, including general infection control measures, body positioning, intubation and mechanical ventilation, oral and gastro-intestinal tract, endotracheal tube, airway pressure, cuff pressure, selective digestive and/or oropharyngeal decontamination, and probiotic or early antibiotic treatment, as well as overall administration at a policy level...

BACKGROUND: Impairment of intestinal barrier function and increased translocation of bacteria to the systemic blood flow contribute to the emergence of sepsis. Probiotics might be of beneficial effects on critically ill-patients, modulating intestinal barrier function and reducing inflammation. The aim of this trial was to determine the effect of probiotics on inflammatory markers in critically ill-patients in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This trial was conducted on 40 critically ill-patients admitted to the ICU...

OBJECTIVES: Sepsis is the main cause of death in the intensive care unit. New preventive measures for nosocomial infections have been researched, such as pre, pro and symbiotic usage, due to its immunoregulatory properties. The objective was to evaluate the effect of administration of pre, pro and symbiotic on gastrointestinal and inferior airway colonization and on nosocomial infections, particularly ventilator-associated pneumonia. METHODS: Patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit at Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho between November 2004 and September 2006 and mechanically ventilated were randomized in one of four groups: control (n = 16), prebiotic (n = 10), probiotic (n = 12) or symbiotic (n = 11)...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of oral administration of probiotics on intestinal colonization with drug-resistant bacteria among preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). METHODS: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial was carried out in the preterm infants who were transferred to the NICU immediately after birth. These infants were stratified by whether they were breastfed and then randomized into test group and control group...

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, known as baker's yeast, is also used as a probiotic agent to treat gastroenteritis by modulating the endogenous flora and immune system. However, since there have been increasing reports of fungemia due to S.cerevisiae and its subspecies S.boulardii, it is recommended that probiotics should be cautiously used in immunosuppressed patients, people with underlying diseases and low-birth weight babies. To emphasize this phenomenon, in this report, a case of S.cerevisiae fungemia developed in a patient given probiotic treatment for antibiotic-associated diarrhea, was presented...

Antibiotic-resistant probiotics may be advantageous for antibiotics induced intestinal flora imbalance. However, no studies have been performed up to now regarding the use of antibiotic-resistance probiotics for this purpose. In this study, fecal samples from 5 recovery patients of ICU or infectious diseases whose taking antibiotics after a week, was conducted in order to select antibiotic-resistant isolates. Among the 23 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains considered, 10 showed high antimicrobial activity against potential pathogens, these strains were further characterized for assessment of biological activity (pH/bile and adhesion) and safety (transfer of antibiotics resistant gene)...

IMPORTANCE: NEC is a common and severe complication in premature neonates, particularly those with very-low-birth-weight (VLBW, <1500 g at birth). Probiotics including lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) proved effective in preventing NEC in preterm infants in several RCTs. OBJECTIVE: Lactoferrin, a mammalian milk glycoprotein involved in innate immune host defences, can reduce the incidence of NEC in animal models, and its action is enhanced by LGG. We tried to assess whether bovine lactoferrin (BLF), alone or with the probiotic LGG, has a similar effect in human infants, something that has not yet been studied...

BACKGROUND: The increase in invasive fungal infections (IFIs) in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is jeopardizing the survival of preterm neonates. Probiotics modulating the intestinal microflora of preterm neonates may minimize enteral fungal colonization. AIMS: This study was to examine whether probiotic supplementation in neonates reduced fungal septicemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective, randomized, double blind trial investigating the supplementation of preterm infants with a probiotic was done from May 2012 to April 2013, with 112 subjects randomized into two groups...